Mentalisation-based therapy (MBT) in a high-secure hospital setting: expert by experience feedback on participation

Evidence for mentalisation-based therapy (MBT) is increasing in relation to the treatment of personality disorder. Individuals with personality disorder are over-represented in inpatient, forensic and forensic inpatient mental health services. This study explores MBT within a forensic setting as an intervention designed to moderate deficits linked to violence and to improve adaptive coping. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was conducted on interviews with four patients who completed MBT at a high-secure hospital. Findings suggest that MBT-enhanced participants’ mentalising which had a positive impact upon their capacity to manage their behaviour and emotions. MBT further enabled participants to process past experiences of violence and develop some degree of empathy for others, which led to a trend in abstinence from risk behaviours. Findings contribute a secure inpatient perspective on the experience of MBT and to MBT clinical outcomes.     

Commercial development and the evolution of political cultures: Ming/Qing China and 17th century England

Extensive commercial development occurred in China in the late Ming (1368–1644) and early Qing (1644–1911) dynasties and in 17^th century England. In both countries the scale of activity and the institutional innovations that were introduced to safeguard transactions threatened the status rules of the hegemonic political culture. In England, however, these challenges were part of a larger panorama of change. Conceptions of law rooted in the past were refashioned to meet challenges posed by religious and political conflict as well as rapid commercial development. A new legal culture emerged that powerfully influenced the political culture. In China commercial expansion led to the development of novel banking and trading organizations. New patterns of social interaction came into being that existed side by side with inherited forms that had roots in antiquity. Tendencies favoring the evolution of Chinese political culture, however, were curtailed by political authority which upheld traditional Confucian culture and the legitimacy that this culture accorded to traditional elites. In both societies prevailing values and beliefs influenced the direction and degree of change in their political cultures.     

Repression,co-optation and insurgency: Pakistan’s FATA,Southern Thailand and Papua,Indonesia

Scholars have long identified state repression as playing a key role in the onset of insurgency. Violence by security forces increases anger against the state and assists with rebel recruitment. Yet scholars have also recognised that repression does not always lead to rebellion: in some cases it successfully quashes movements before they have begun. This study advances an argument for when and why repression leads to insurgency and sometimes does not. We contend that violence by state security forces can fail to trigger rebellion if local elites within the repressed community are simultaneously co-opted with political and economic opportunities. When elites are satisfied with local autonomy and patronage they deprive the dissident movement of local leadership and coordination. When the state uses repression against a community and at the same time abandons this mutually beneficial relationship, the insurgency has both the leadership and grassroots support it requires. We illustrate our argument by examining three cases of state violence in Asia. In two of our cases, Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Southern Thailand, repression led directly to insurgency. In the third, Papua in Indonesia, ongoing co-optation of local elites has left the movement factionalised and weak.     

Democracy and the demographic transition

This article addresses the role of demographic factors in contributing to the emergence of democracy. It maintains that, other things being equal, progress in the demographic transition promotes democratization. The argument is developed with reference to the effects of interrelated changes in mortality, natural increase (i.e. population growth), fertility, and population age structure. Suggestions are also made with respect to how demographic and democratic trends should be gauged. An analysis of data for the period 1970–2005 for 77 countries that were initially non-democratic provides substantial support for the argument. Some implications are discussed, as are future trends in democratization from a demographer’s perspective.